Interesting old photo

[Guest stephen48]

Here is a photo taken on 3 Nov 1937 in Palmerston North, NZ. It is interesting to note that nearly all of the cars in the photo are American.How things have changed!

What make is the tourer lower right ?

[Dave@Moon]

What make is the tourer lower right ?

It looks like a Lincoln, circa 1927/28, to me. The hood ornament in particular looks like the Lincoln item to me.

[nzcarnerd]

It is too small to be a Lincoln. There were very few, if any at all, Lincolns sold here in NZ. I don't know what it is. I note it has bullet headlights like those on the circa 1927 Chryslers. It is possible that it might be something British or European. There was a huge range of makes and models available here in the early years. Often only one shipment would get here before the maker or the dealer went out of business. As an example I knew someone who restored a 1924 Stephens (Salient Six) about 30 years ago. He was able to determine that only 12 cars were imported. Until the balance of payments crisis of 1938 most of our cars came from the US as they were the most suitable for our poor quality roads. From 1938 imports were more restricted and the system favoured British products. Post WW2 the percentage of the market held by US cars became gradually smaller. By the 1960s, when I started driving, we had become so used to our diet of small British cars that the Chevrolets and Pontiacs sold here (Canadian sourced, NZ assembled Impalas and Laurentians) were regarded as extravagant luxury cars. In those days "all the extras" in a car ad meant that it had a radio and heater! Today, our market is almost completely unrestricted, but the bulk of our cars come from Japan and other Asian countries, and Australia, although we are seeing increasing numbers of European models. The only US models are small numbers of Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep models and big Ford F-series pickups which I think come from Brazil.

The car in the foreground is circa 1927 Austin 12/4.

Edited July 15, 2011 by nzcarnerd (see edit history)

[Curti]

The car second from the right is a 34 Auburn. A couple of years ago we tried to get a poster size blow up of this particular picture. We contacted various agencys in NZ, but to no avail. This is one of very few era street sceens that have a 34-36 Auburn that is decernable.

[Matt Harwood]

I love old photos like this, and this one in particular drives home how quickly cars were evolving back then. Today, automakers don't update the models very often and people don't really notice. Even a 10 year old car today looks more or less like everything else on the road. But a 10 year old car in 1937 REALLY stood out.

And unless that lady is 7 feet tall, that's probably not a Lincoln, although that was my initial impression as well.

Thanks for sharing.

[nzcarnerd]

The picture is rather dark. Maybe someone can get hold of it and fiddle with it to lighten it a little. Might make the identifiaction easier.

[Guest stephen48]

The picture is rather dark. Maybe someone can get hold of it and fiddle with it to lighten it a little. Might make the identifiaction easier.

NZ ,it may be your monitor screen is darkening it as it looks good on mine.(I did have to lower the resolution to post it though)Here is a crop of the tourer that may assist.It looks American to me in view of the overall style, the top, the wooden wheels and the demountable rims.But I cannot identify it from my many books so it must be a rarity.

The 1934 Auburn in the photo is interesting also as commented on in a post above.I have not seen a surviving 34 Auburn in NZ but have seen several 35- 36 s.

[Guest GeorgeCagle]

I do see what appears to be a 1937 Studebaker 4-door. This might be the newest car in the picture.

[Barry Wolk]

I find it interesting that NZ freely imported American cars while Australia had huge content laws. US cars were sold there as total knock down cars or running chassis to be bodied by AU firms. A firm named T. J. Richards made an industry out of assembling kits and installing AU passenger compartments onto US chassis.

[Bill Harmatuk]

I'd say 1938.

Look real close at the newer automobiles.

Great shot.

Thanks for posting.

Priceless picture.

Bill H

[Guest stephen48]

Good spotting George.There was 265 new Studebakers registered in NZ for the 1937 calender year.By comparison there were 6235 new Fords and 3866 new Chevs.Buick was 273 only just ahead of Studebaker.

[Guest stephen48]

Barry . Yes we were fortunate to get a good supply of American bodied cars.Some came in "completely Knocked down" and were assembled here.Some arrived completely completely assembled and a very limited number of some makes had locally made bodies usually in the earlier years.